August 2013 Auction Ends Thursday, August 29th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/29/2013
Dwight D. Eisenhower typed letter signed as President, dated 22 November 1955 on official White House stationery. Here, Eisenhower writes to his brother Edgar discussing the subsidization of American arts abroad: ''...Now as to the matter of using musicians in our propaganda work abroad. It is possible that you do not understand how ignorant most of the world is about America and how important it is to us that some of the misunderstandings be corrected. One of them involves our cultural standards and our artistic tastes. Europeans have been taught that we are a race of materialists, whose only diversions are golf, baseball, football, horse racing, and an especially brutalized brand of boxing. Our successes are described in terms of automobiles and not in terms of worthwhile cultural works of any kind. Spiritual and intellectual values are deemed to be almost non-existent in our country...This picture of their misunderstanding is not overdrawn -- in fact, in some areas we are believed to be bombastic, jingoistic, and totally devoted to the theories of force and power as the only worth while elements in the world. For many years many of our European friends, and many lecturers and visitors from this country, have tried to correct these impressions...One way to help is to send abroad some of our better productions int the fields of dramatics, music, painting and the like...because the whole affair is sometimes an expensive arrangement and the organization simply cannot make ends meet, the government comes into the picture to supplement their receipts so that there is no net loss on the venture...'' Signed ''D.E.'' in black ink. Letter measures 7'' x 10.25'' on three single-sided pages. Two minor folds from mailing, else fine condition.
Dwight D. Eisenhower 1955 Typed Letter Signed as President -- ''...in some areas we are believed to be bombastic, jingoistic, and totally devoted to the theories of force and power...''
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